The Penncrest ice hockey team has four freshmen playing prominent roles on its team along with sophomore goaltender Tom Davis, and despite their youth the Lions are off to a good start. "We're going to get better as the year goes on," Penncrest coach Steve Mescanti said. "We have experience back, with five seniors back, so I don't want to make it sound like we're all kids. But it's a fairly young team. It's really a nice blend. " In previous years, the Lions relied on a few players to handle the bulk of their scoring.

Before the postseason started, Josh Beckett, just one of the many baby-faced Florida Marlins, said he and his teammates just might be young enough and stupid enough to win the World Series. How stupid? Not very. The Marlins have been young and inexperienced, but they've brushed aside that and any other pressures to advance to the World Series. They battled the Phillies through the final months of the regular season to win the National League wild card before they took care of the San Francisco Giants in four games in the NL division series and the Chicago Cubs in seven games in the NL Championship Series.

Prosecutors call them urban terrorists. And this week, law enforcement is using City Hall courtrooms as the battleground to fight the South Philadelphia street gang called the "Young Guns. " The gang is responsible for scores of robberies, shootings and beatings of poverty-stricken victims over the last several years, many of whom are too scared to report the attacks, the prosecutors say. Gang members have been linked to the woundings of several children caught in the crossfire of drive-by shootings.

By the time the two members of the "Young Guns" gang in South Philadelphia get out of jail, "they'll be known as Old Guns," the prosecutor said yesterday. Walter Royster, 22, of 32nd Street near Dickinson, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for his role in last summer's drive-by shooting of an 8- year-old boy, and the attempted shooting of a police officer. Kevin Cleveland, 18, of Lindbergh Boulevard near 77th Street, Eastwick, was given a seven- to 14-year prison term for being the triggerman in the wounding of the youth.

A Coatesville man testified yesterday that he escaped a possibly fatal injury when he feigned having been shot by the alleged leader of a violent gang who stood over him with a loaded gun. James Hoggard, 30, told a Chester County Court jury that Delbert "Mister" Franklin fired several shots at him in September 1996 while the two struggled during a fight and that Franklin and another man left him alone when he fell to the ground. "When I faked that I got shot, they left," said Hoggard, who sustained minor injuries from bullets that grazed the lower area of his chest.

They rode out of the West - from a place called Malibu - to bring glory back to Lincoln County. Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney and Casey Siemaszko, six of today's best young actors, are aiming, with "Young Guns," to revive a movie genre that bit the dust when they were still pedalling tricycles. The screen's latest homage to Billy the Kid and the New Mexico range wars that spawned him, "Young Guns" depicts William H. Bonney (Estevez)

Ever since he turned pro in 1996, any discussion of the PGA Tour season had to begin and end with Tiger Woods. Not this year. Woods remains the gold standard in the game, the main attraction, the leading money-winner, the No. 1 player in the world, and the man they are all chasing, to be sure. But he's not the only interesting story in town. For starters, there's the sudden surge by Sergio Garcia, who, in case you missed it, recently said he hoped to top this year's money list on both the U.S. and European tours.

On Saturday night, no duo was more outdueled than the 76ers' starting backcourt. Second-year point guard Jrue Holiday and rookie Evan Turner, the Sixers' young-gun starters, were dribbled around and shot over by the San Antonio Spurs' veteran combo of point guard Tony Parker and shooting guard Manu Ginobili. By game's end, the Spurs had beaten the Sixers, 116-93. But the most accurate reflection of just how lopsided this game was - and just how uneven this matchup was - came at the end of the third quarter, when the game was ostensibly over and not yet tainted by garbage minutes.

Moving beyond the numbness of "How could this happen?", America is now asking a more pertinent question when a child shoots a child: Where did he get the gun? In some cases, the answers are leading to arrests. In last month's school shooting in Michigan and in an accidental shooting here in Philadelphia, adults have been charged with involuntary manslaughter after 6-year-olds killed others with their guns. In both cases, the loaded gun was easily accessible. Neither adult took safety precautions, merely hiding the gun under a bed. In each case, the households were chaotic and lawless.

Hannah Nihill got knocked down by a pick. Rather than lament the defensive miscue and return to her feet slowly, the sophomore guard for the Cardinal O'Hara girls' basketball team sprang into action. An opponent's shot bounced off the rim and Nihill recovered it. She proceeded to fly down the right side of the court, blowing by defenders with her speed and deft ballhandling ability. A crossover was followed by a move behind her back, and, next thing you know, Nihill found her teammate down low for a basket.

PINEHURST, N.C. - In the absence of Tiger and in the twilight of Phil, this is what golf needs. It needs charisma. It needs star power. It needs beknickered Rickie Fowler, and heartbroken Rory McIlroy, and even golf dork Jordan Spieth. Any one of them could wind up holding the U.S. Open trophy on Sunday evening. Fowler finished at even-par 70, McIlroy at 1-over, Spieth at 1-under, all within hailing distance of leader Martin Kaymer, who sits at 5-under. Tiger Woods has missed his second consecutive major tournament because of back surgery, but, after winning 14 majors in 12 years, Woods' crumbling body hasn't mustered another major win in 6 years.

NEW YORK - Fresh off the all-star break, the Phillies will begin a nine-game road trip Friday, starting with a three-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field. And rest assured, Mets ace Matt Harvey will be healthy. Harvey was skipped in his final start before the break because of a blister on his right index finger. But he pitched two scoreless innings in Tuesday's All-Star Game. "It feels fine, and I was able to finally throw my slider, which was definitely a big help," Harvey said after his stellar showing at Citi Field.

It is a different kind of playoff run for the Flyers. Not their 2012 journey through the Stanley Cup tournament - that has barely begun. We're talking here about the remarkable run of young players using the postseason to establish themselves as legitimate NHL stars. Two years ago, it was Claude Giroux. It's hard to remember now, because Giroux has become one of the game's elite players, but he was a little bit of an unknown going into the 2010 playoffs. He'd had a solid regular season, but the Flyers were not considered serious contenders after slipping into the playoffs on the final day of the season.

Fresh-faced and bright-eyed, the four young pitchers came together with the Rookie League Martinsville Phillies in 1995. The next season they were advanced as a unit to the Class A Piedmont Boll Weevils and given a nickname: The Young Guns. Righthanders David Coggin, Rob Burger and Randy Knoll plus lefthander Jason Kershner were supposed to represent the promising future of the Phillies' pitching staff. Instead, they came to stand for the inherent difficulty in predicting how prospects, especially pitchers, will develop and all that can go wrong between the low minors and the big leagues.

THEIR TWO leading scorers combined for just 17 points, but it wasn't so much what Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala did as the guttiness with which they did it in last night's 108-97 victory over the Houston Rockets in the Wells Fargo Center. Brand was feeling kind of punk with a stomach virus, and Iguodala still is hampered by a sore right knee that has made him virtually a one-legged player. No wonder their younger teammates look up to the two veterans, whose professionalism and dedication over 19 total NBA seasons (12 for Brand, seven for Iguodala)

On Saturday night, no duo was more outdueled than the 76ers' starting backcourt. Second-year point guard Jrue Holiday and rookie Evan Turner, the Sixers' young-gun starters, were dribbled around and shot over by the San Antonio Spurs' veteran combo of point guard Tony Parker and shooting guard Manu Ginobili. By game's end, the Spurs had beaten the Sixers, 116-93. But the most accurate reflection of just how lopsided this game was - and just how uneven this matchup was - came at the end of the third quarter, when the game was ostensibly over and not yet tainted by garbage minutes.

The movement began last season. Donovan McNabb was out with a broken rib, and Kevin Kolb was the Eagles' starting quarterback for two games. While he made some mistakes in a loss to New Orleans, Kolb did some good things. Spread the football around. Got the receivers the ball where they could gain yards after the catch. Moved the team down the field, gaining 391 passing yards, the 12th-highest total in team history. The next week against Kansas City, Kolb was even more relaxed, more poised, and more accurate.

As expected, we saw the future yesterday at Lincoln Financial Field. It just wasn't the future we expected to see. Instead of a revolutionary offensive scheme led by Michael Vick, fans saw some of the youngest members of the Eagles' roster play the role of front men during a surprisingly easy 34-14 win over the wretched Kansas City Chiefs. In his second NFL start, Kevin Kolb was the quarterback who made the big plays, completing 24 of 34 passes for 327 yards and two touchdowns.